Jose Acasuso

Titles Won (3):

(2002) Sopot, (2004) Bucharest, (2006) Vina del Mar

Jose Acasuso is a professional tennis player from Argentina. He began playing tennis at the age of two when his father took him to his grandfather's tennis club to take lessons. His favourite surface is clay and considers his serve and forehand to be his main strengths. In 2000, he spent the season largely on the Challenger circuit and reached his first final in Montevideo (l. Coria). A year later he reached his first ATP final in Buenos Aires, defeating Gaudio in the semi-final and going on to lose to world number one Gustavo Kuerten in the final. In April he won his first Challenger title in Bermuda (d. Sanchez) and went on to reach the quarter final stages or better in seven other tournaments. In 2002, Acasuso started the season by playing in the Australian Open and reached the second round before losing to Nicolas Lapentti in straight sets. The Argentine went on to reach back-to-back quarter finals in his next tournaments at Vina del Mar (d. Gonzalez) and Buenos Aires (d. Lopez). In May, Acasuso lifted the World Team Cup in Dusseldorf, by defeating Marat Safin in the final. Acasuso reached successive finals in June at Challenger events in Biella (l. Hrbaty) and Braunschweig (l. Sanchez). He went on to win his first ATP title on the clay courts at Sopot, Poland by defeating fellow countryman Franco Squillari in the final. In his next tournament he won the San Marino Challenger, defeating Nikolay Davydenko in the semi-final and Albert Portas in the final 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. At the US Open he made an early first round exit to France's Michael Lodra in straight sets. Acasuso finished the season strongly and reached his second ATP title at Bucharest, losing to Spain's David Ferrer in straight sets. His third ATP final of the season came in Palermo, losing to Fernando Gonzalez.

In 2003, Acasuso's best ATP performance came at Bucharest when he reached the semi-final, losing to David Sanchez. On the Challenger circuit he reached the final on the clay courts in Biella, losing to local favourite Filippo Volandri in three sets. In Grand Slam play he reached the second round at the Australian Open (l. Blake) but made early first round exits at Roland Garros (l. Martin) and at Wimbledon (l. Robredo). In 2004, Acasuso reached back-to-back semi-finals in February at ATP events in Buenos Aires (l. Moya) and Costa Do Sauipe (l. Kuerten). In August, the Argentine reached his first final of the season at Sopot but was unable to repeat his 2002 success, losing to Rafa Nadal in the final 3-6, 4-6. In his next tournament at the US Open, he lost in the first round to Nicolas Massu but immediately bounced back to win his second ATP title at Bucharest (d. Andreev). Acasuso continued his rise up the rankings in 2005 by advancing to a career best fourth round at Roland Garros. Acasuso opened the season by reaching the quarter final in Auckland. After losing to Fernando Gonzalez in the first round of the Australian Open in a five-set epic, the Argentine went on to reach the quarter final at Vina del Mar (l. Gaudio) and the semi-final at Buenos Aires (l. Puerta). In May, he reaced his second ATP semi-final of the season at St. Poelten (l. Davydenko). His best performance of the season came at the Masters Series in Cincinatti when he reached the quarter final before losing to world number one Roger Federer. In the second half of the season he also reached quarter finals at Sopot and Basel.

Acasuso finished in the Top 30 for the first time in 2006 by compiling his best season in which he won a career-high 33 matches. At Vina del Mar, he became the first player to win the singles and doubles titles at the same event during the season. In the Masters Series at Hamburg he reached a career best semi-final, defeating Ivan Ljubicic before losing to Radek Stepanek. In July, he reached the final and help match point at 5-4 in the fourth set, but fell in five hours to David Ferrer. He also reached the quarter final at the Masters Series in Toronto, defeating world number seven in the second round. He also reached quarter finals at ATP events in Buenos Aires (l. Calleri) and Basel (l. Srichaphan). In 2007, Acasuso reached his ninth ATP final at Sopot, losing to Spain's Tommy Robredo. He also turned in two other ATP quarter final results at Acapulco and Cassablanca, while reaching the final at the Andrezieux Challenger (l. Ascione). He also won all three of his ATP World Team Championship matches to help Argentine to the title in Dusseldorf (d. Bjorkman, Fish and Massu). In 2008, Acasuso finished in the Top 50 for the third time in four years, highlighted by reaching his tenth career ATP final. His best month came in February when he reached the quarter final at Vina del Mar, the final in his hometown of Buenos Aires (l. Nalbandian) and the semi-final at Acapulco. His best result in the season came at the Masters Series in Miami when he defeated Lleyton Hewitt before losing to world number one Roger Federer. He reached one other ATP quarter final in Amersfoort. In doubles play he won one title at Vina del Mar (w/Priesto) and advanced to the semi-final in five other tournaments.